Air fresheners for eliminating odors and dispensing a pleasant fragrance are well known. Two common types of air fresheners are a thin, paper disc which is impregnated with a fragrance, and a thick, porous cake which is impregnated with a fragrance. The disc or cake is placed in a decorative storage container and attached to a stationary surface, for example in a room or inside a vehicle. The storage container is open to the surrounding atmosphere, or is furnished with one or more vents that may be opened so that the fragrance is dispensed into the room or vehicle. Typically, the storage container is reusable and the disc or cake is replaced periodically when the fragrance is completely dispensed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,269,723 issued Dec. 14, 1993, to Bender discloses a vehicle air freshener for dispensing a pleasant fragrance to the passenger compartment of a vehicle. The air freshener is installed into the ventilation system of the vehicle behind an air vent in the passenger compartment. The air freshener includes an elongate, cylindrical tube which is sized to fit through one of the openings in the grill of the air vent. The air freshener includes a handle which is wider than the openings in the grill to prevent the air freshener from falling into the air duct. Because the fragrance is contained inside the elongate tube, only a small portion of the air flow through the ventilation system absorbs and distributes the fragrance. Accordingly, a separate air freshener must be placed behind each air vent of the ventilation system to obtain a uniform distribution of the fragrance throughout the entire passenger compartment of the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,808,347 issued Feb. 28, 1989, to Dawn and U.S. Pat. No. 5,373,581 issued Dec. 13, 1994, to Smith each disclose an air freshener which is plugged into the cigarette lighter of the vehicle. The air freshener disclosed in the patent to Smith includes an electric heating element powered by the cigarette lighter of the vehicle for vaporizing a porous fragrance cake. The fragrance is distributed to the passenger compartment of the vehicle by circulation of the ambient air. The patent to Dawn discloses a fan positioned behind a porous fragrance cake which is driven by an electric motor powered by the cigarette lighter of the vehicle. Operation of the fan distributes the fragrance to the passenger compartment of the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,258,004 issued Mar. 24, 1981, to Valenzona et al. discloses a hollow, disc-shaped storage container. The container is attached to a flat surface at a suitable location in a room or inside the passenger compartment of the vehicle. One or more fragrance discs are placed inside the container, and the top of the container is rotated relative to the bottom to create openings in the side wall of the container. The openings permit the fragrance to be distributed to the room or to the passenger compartment of the vehicle by circulation of the ambient air.
The Bender air freshener relies on the ventilation system of the vehicle to distribute the fragrance throughout the passenger compartment. The Dawn air freshener utilizes an electric fan to distribute the fragrance to the passenger compartment. The Smith and Valenzona air fresheners rely on the circulation of the ambient air in the room or inside the passenger compartment of the vehicle to distribute the fragrance. Thus, in a large room or vehicle, these known air fresheners are not efficient in distributing the fragrance throughout the entire room or passenger compartment.
Although these, and other, air fresheners are known, the prior art air fresheners do not evenly distribute a fragrance throughout an open area, such as a large room. Accordingly, it is apparent that an air freshener is needed which uniformly distributes a fragrance throughout an entire room. Further, none of the prior art air fresheners provides a convenient, disposable means for attaching an air freshener to a ceiling fan. Accordingly, it is apparent that a storage container for an air freshener is needed which can be attached to a ceiling fan.
Accordingly, one of the objects of the present invention is to provide an air freshener for distributing a fragrance evenly throughout an open area, such as a large room.
It is a more particular object of the invention to provide an air freshener which can be attached to a ceiling fan, so that the operation of the ceiling fan will distribute the fragrance of the air freshener throughout the entire room.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a storage container for conveniently attaching a fragrance disc or cake to a ceiling fan.
It is another object of the invention to provide a storage container which is reusable so as to permit a fresh fragrance disc or cake to be attached to the ceiling fan so as to continuously distribute a fragrance to an entire room at minimal cost.